Tan's Taiwanese Beef Noodles

While we're on the subject of beef (cf my last post), particularly stewed beef, I have another little rave in a very different category of restaurant: the Tan's homemade beef noodle stall in the Holland Drive Market place hawker centre.

Mr Tan is a personable chap who uses a 60 year old family recipe from his Taiwanese mother-in-law to stew beef to the point of melting tenderness. No MSG and no pork is used to flavour so the result is a wonderful broth and tender thin slices of shin beef, cooked for what must be hours in a pressure cooker. It's flavoured also with his special blend of chilli and chilli oil, fragrant and unlike the usual sambal type flavours or cut chilli normally favoured by Singaporeans.

The noodles too are a treat being smooth and silky in texture with enough "bite" to their texture to create that "la mien" type experience but less glutinous. They come with an optional side dish of piquant pickles (mainly turnip and speckles of carrot) to offset the depth of the meaty broth.

I down the whole meal with a glass of pineapple juice from my favourite juice seller across from the beef noodle stall whenever I'm there who invariably serves me promptly with a smile. Somehow it seems so far away from the far more commercially charged atmosphere of Holland Village just 10 mins away but a world away in terms of pricing and sophistication. Holland Drive market is still where you got good food for very good prices and real people unhurried by the pace of a more urban lifestyle.

For opening hours please refer to his website www.tansbeefnoodle.com

Quentins

I was recently treated to dinner by my aunt at a lovely little romantic place called Quentins in Katong near the junction of Telok Kurau Road and East Coast Road (note to early bird readers: I've corrected the location as a reader very helpfully pointed out my directions would lead you sadly astray). It's a unique little place because it serves Eurasian cuisine which in Singapore means it's a mix of British cooking with an Eastern flavour using many local ingredients, such as green chilli sambal prawns, and a bunch of rather more local dishes such as Chilli Kang Kong.

The dish I had that night that really stood out was the Beef Smore. The meat had a strong distinct and complex flavour which was delicious. It would be loved by meat lovers in general and those who like stews. The gravy was wonderfully flavoured and went nicely with the white rice.

What also charmed me about the place was that it was done up with nice touches such as old black and white photographs from the 1950s and 1960s of scenes typical of Eurasian life: a Eurasian wedding with the couple in the classic pose of the era; a shot of a bunch of altar boys in church preparing the incense burner; another picture of scenes of Katong of the time. It created a small window into the past that would definitely appeal to all the Eurasians and anyone who'd grown up in Katong in a slightly earlier time.

The rest of the restaurant had attentive little touches: darker wood furniture coupled with candles on the table and good linen and service staff who were helpful and unobstrusive. All in all a good dining experience which I would recommend as a mid-priced restaurant with food that you would only otherwise get if you were asked to dinner in a traditional Eurasian family.

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

My newest bundle of joy is before you: Custard, named for the colour he is, is my family's latest adoptee from Action for Singapore Dogs Society.

ASD, a rescue society which I very happily support, have found a very good match for us: a cream coloured puppy with a confident but not overbearing disposition and which reminds me of my late, and most beloved, Scottie. And yet is individual enough so that I don't think of him as a reincarnation. Plus Custard has proven himself admirably suited to the children in the family as he has patiently endured the many little hands petting it without complaint and even with apparent enjoyment. Indeed so enchanted are my young nephews with this latest addition to the family that they have been claiming rights over feeding the little tyke breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm hoping their enthusiasm will last to when the little tyke is a big tyke and needs lots of walks with energetic young boys.

And for the how much I paid for the doggie, I actually don't pay for the dog so much as cover the costs of the vet plus earlier costs which the rescue society has incurred towards housing, fostering and otherwise caring for it while looking for a permanent home for it. I'd certainly encourage prospective dog owners to seriously consider adopting a dog rather than going to a petshop and buying one, and would particularly recommend working with ASD since they've proven themselves a very well run volunteer organisation.

Life Demands to be Lived

I came across this piece in the weekly bulletin of Novena church written by Fr Paul Kee. I found it very uplifting and just what I needed. So here I reproduce it in part.

"The human spirit refuses to be bowed. Life goes on, and hope springs eternal. Something inside us refuses to be defeated. Despite the aches and migraines of life, the sorrows (or glorious agony), the denial of accepting responsibility, feeling sorry for ourselves, living with past hurts or grieving over the death of a loved one, from years past, people come back from needless suffering and rejoice again. Life demands to be lived. On this subject of life and how to live it, Jesus had something to say. He tells us nto to be afraid, not to let fear rule our lives. Psychologists tell us that fear can not only cause psychosomatic illnesses like ulcers and headaches but also lead us to deep depression beyond our control.

Most of all we are reminded that in God's eyes, each of us is special, "unforgettable". Like the flower, "the forget-me-not", so are we to God. The world might see us as unforgettable, anonymous, dispensable even, but God does not. So let us live in the joy of that knowledge, in the richness of that faith, and teach others to do the same. Energy spent being with others is much better than constantly pointing fingers blaming and complaining and moaning about what might have been or could be better..."

Wedding Guest Shoes

Nothing like new shoes for a gal: again, I found a great buy at Charles & Keith when I was passing and in despearate need of a pair of dressy white heels for a posh wedding. My previous pair had long since expired and were duly retired.

I found this pair to be elegant and charming and on sale at an extremely reasonable price plus they went with my peach organza convered 3/4 length dress and I felt utterly chic and beautiful tottering around in them. It was all I needed to finish my outfit and give me confidence walking around the garden and tent filled with very illustrious guests in one of the large landed properties, yes, large enough to fit in an enormous wedding tent to hold all the wedding guests.

The finish to the dress and shoes was the borrowed silk evening bag from my sister and the champagne flute (filled of course with bubbly) which I wafted around with.

The best deal about the wedding was the desert cart which contained a selection of tiny, bite sized deserts, along with a glass vase full of peanut m&ms. Sadly the very attractive wedding cake composed of a very tall pyramid of multi-coloured profitioroles was not served as part of the desert. Instead, guests were comforted by having little Chinese black and red traditional bamboo carriers to carry away three types of wedding cake: kueh lapis, sugee cake and fruit cake.

One presumes the pile of profitioroles hid the real cakes?

QQ Rice

I adore food in tidy packages and have always been a big fan of sushi and dumplings. QQ Rice struck me as the taiwanese version of Subway sandwich bars. So instead of choosing a type of bread, one chooses the rice: purple, red, brown, ice lake wild rice or brown with wheatgerm sprinkled on it. Red is evidently very popular because it's been out of stock for a while.

Then choose the fillings and you get a generous 5 choices out of what looks like about 40 different choices of meat, fish, mock meat, and veg and fruit. The servers spread out the rice on the palm of their glove encased hand, then pile on your choice of filling then roll it all into an elongated fat roll of rice then steam it so that it all sticks together.

The result: a tidy little plastic wrapped package of rice with your choice of fillings. Talk about a meal in your hand. I can't resist buying two each time I'm around that area and once even bought three. They are extremely filling so actually I should only really be eating one for a meal. If I eat two, I end up being full for both lunch and dinner.

I still prefer sushi but this is a very nice alternative. QQ! fortunately so far the appellation does not refer to the process of getting one's food although if they get any more popular, it will as the process of ordering is not particularly speedy.